Written by Matt Batcha, Fenetech
Identify your needs
Now that you have created a vision of your reality, you must identify your needs.
- Do you have equipment that can be upgraded to provide a level of automation that creates value by reducing labor, improving quality, and throughput?
- Do you have islands of automation that, while providing value in a single work cell, still require local manual data entry to facilitate production?
- Do you have equipment that provides the openness and communication abilities to allow for complete integration?
- Do you have complete visibility of what is happening in real time on the shop floor?
- And most importantly, is your software system capable of being the foundation that is required to reach the goal of complete integration?
Next: Set goals, action plans, priorities and phases.
